


Pepper and the Helmet

by DeniNotDenise



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pepperony - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Gen, Heavy Angst, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 05:54:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16927692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeniNotDenise/pseuds/DeniNotDenise
Summary: Pepper Potts interacts with Iron Man's (Tony Stark) helmet. The only thing she's given after the last mission Tony went on.





	Pepper and the Helmet

**Author's Note:**

> Based on conjecture off the Avengers 4: EndGame trailer.

Pepper Potts stared at the helmet in her hands. An Iron Man helmet. The last one, she knew instinctively, Tony wore when he went to fight whomever it was that threatened humanity.

She felt odd, just staring at it. She immediately thought of that helmet she'd kissed and then threw over the balcony of Tony's house. The look on Tony's face when she did that had been priceless.

The memory made her want to laugh. She knew if she started, she wouldn't stop. The laughter would come. It would be on a loop. Crying would interject in the middle, but it would be the laughter that would return. Again. And again.

She looked from the helmet to look at the faces of Steve and Natasha. She tried to read their expressions. They refused to look at her. A tingling started in the back of her head. It grew. That was a bad sign. Captain America and Black Widow, not looking at you. Two of Iron Man's teammates and they couldn't look Virginia Pepper Potts in the eye.

"There's a message for you, Miss Potts." It was Steve who said that. He'd fiddled with the helmet accidentally and hit the play button. When he heard the words, "Hey Miss Potts...," Steve had stopped the playback. He didn't want to hear any more. "We'll leave you alone so you can listen to it yourself."

Steve looked uncomfortable. So did Natasha. That's what worried her. Pepper had never been able to read Natasha's face before. And that tingling in the back of her head grew to encompass the sides, top, and front of her head. They shuffled out, heads down, neither one looking left nor right. She watched them leave. She watched the door close and click behind them.

Finally, when she knew she was alone, Pepper sat down at the table, the helmet still in her hands. She wasn't sure what she'd hear or see from that helmet, but it had spooked Steve and Natasha enough that they wouldn't speak of it to her. And why were they giving her this helmet? Where was Tony?

A coldness started like a lump in the middle of her chest. It spread as she touched the helmet. Light touches. As if it was Tony's face she were touching. The coldness spread from the center of her chest upwards towards the base of her throat. It traveled downwards to the pit of her stomach.

She found and hit the play button. Tony's voice seemed to echo in the room as the recording of his voice came to life.

“Hey, Miss Potts. If you find this recording, don’t feel bad about this. Part of the journey is the end. Just for the record, being adrift with zero promise of rescue is more fun than it sounds. Food and water ran out four days ago. Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning. And that’ll be it. When I drift off, I’ll dream about you. It’s always you.”

That was the message. She played it again. And again. And again. She didn't know how many times she had played it before she shoved the helmet away. It semi-rolled down the table and came to a rest at the other end of the table. It had ended upside down. Its lifeless eyes just stared back at her.

She shoved away from the table and stood up. She walked around the table, grabbing the helmet, picking it up, staring at it. She wanted to throw it. Smash it. Erase it from existence because then there would be that tiny speck of hope that Tony would return. That this had been a mistake. Tony was out there, alive. Perhaps he just didn't know he was Tony Stark. But this ... this recording. The matter-of-fact tone of his voice until the end when he admitted it was always her, let her know it was real. Let her know he was never going to be coming back.

Instead of smashing the helmet, she pushed chairs out of the way.

She screamed. Making promises to the lifeless hunk of metal before her. She looked up at the ceiling. She looked at the floor. She lifted both arms, her hands squeezed into fists and she pounded the table until her skin was red, her arms ached too much to lift them any more, her fists were numb from the repeated pounding.

And still there was no Tony walking through the door. No Tony to tell her there was a misunderstanding. No Tony to tell her he was back.

“Hey, Miss Potts. If you find this recording, don’t feel bad about this. Part of the journey is the end. Just for the record, being a drift with zero promise of rescue is more fun than it sounds. Food and water ran out four days ago. Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning. And that’ll be it. When I drift off, I’ll dream about you. It’s always you.”

"If it's always me, Tony, why didn't you try harder to come back to me?" She whispered at recording, her voice cracking. She sank to the floor. One hand covering her face. Both her face and her hand were wet with her tears. Her other hand gripped the edge of the table; knuckles were white from how hard she held on. 

Time stood still as she sat there, on the floor. Slowly, oh so slowly, coming to grips with the fact Tony was gone. She let go of the table, scrubbing her face with her hands as if she could just wipe away the tears, the sadness, the utter devastation of her soul.

Slowly, she stood up. She lifted the helmet. She kissed it. Slowly. She kissed it the way she wanted to kiss Tony when he came back from this mission.

"I have something I want to tell you Tony." She whispers.

She places the helmet right side up on the table, and places one hand on the helmet head, the other goes to her swollen belly.

"I'm pregnant."

The helmet said nothing.

The helmet did nothing.

And still there was no Tony coming through that damn door.

She picked up the helmet and went to the door.

She opened it.

She walked out.

She walked past Steve.

She walked past Natasha.

She walked past everyone else there who had been on the other side of the door.

Pepper Potts left the building.


End file.
